BINDURA (Zimbabwe) - PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe declared on Friday that 'Zimbabwe is mine' and vowed never to surrender to calls to step down, as his political rival threatened to quit stalled unity government talks.

Addressing his ZANU-PF party's annual conference amid a ruinous political crisis and a deadly cholera epidemic, Mr Mugabe returned to the kind of defiance he has often shown in the face of mounting criticism.

'I will never, never, never, never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine, I am a Zimbabwean. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe never for the British, Britain for the British,' Mr Mugabe told his party's annual conference.

The veteran leader in the former British colony said he would remain until 'his people decided to change him'. While the comments struck a familiar tone for the 84-year-old leader - he said earlier this year that only God could remove him from office - he now faces increasingly grim circumstances in his crippled country.

The UN says more than 1,100 people have died in the cholera epidemic, adding to woes such as food shortages and poverty as Zimbabwe struggles with a collapsed economy and eye-popping inflation rates.

Mr Mugabe denounced Western governments who have been stepping up their criticism of his regime since the cholera outbreak.

He said Zimbabwe was facing a war with Britain, supported by the United States and Europe.

'I won't be intimidated. Even if I am threatened with beheading, I believe this and nothing will ever move me from it: Zimbabwe belongs to us, not the British.'

Washington said Mr Mugabe had got it wrong. 'Well, last time the world checked, Zimbabwe belonged to the people of Zimbabwe,' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters when asked to comment on Mr Mugabe's claim.

'Again, it's a statement that I think sums up in a concise way what is at the root of Zimbabwe's problems,' Mr McCormack said.

'He thinks that the state of Zimbabwe and the people of Zimbabwe are there only to serve his interest. It's the other way around - or it should be the other way around,' he added.

Mr Mugabe's speech came after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai threatened to quit deadlocked unity government talks over the abductions of more than 42 members of his MDC party and civil society.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader, who should become prime minister when a unity accord is finally implemented, warned of a long list of outstanding issues with the veteran president before the new government could be set up.

'I don't foresee a situation where the coalition government will be formed until the issues are resolved,' the Movement for Democratic Change leader told AFP in the Botswanan capital, Gaborone.

While a draft constitutional amendment was officially gazetted in Zimbabwe last week, creating the prime minister post, Mr Tsvangirai said it was one of several areas needing attention.

'The 19th amendment, the national security council, the allocations of portfolios, those are the issues that need to be resolved and completed before a government can be formed,' Mr Tsvangirai said.

International pressure has built on Mr Mugabe, with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urging southern African leaders on Friday to distance themselves from him, describing the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe as a 'tragedy'. Also on Friday, Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden added to calls for Mr Mugabe to step down.

Mr Mugabe earlier accused the United States of urging African nations to topple him, state media reported on Friday.

'I do not know of any African country that is brave enough to do that,' Mr Mugabe was quoted as saying.

He warned party delegates 'to be wary of the enemy who was devising new ways of destroying ZANU-PF from within' and urged them to be on high alert, according to the state-run Herald newspaper.

Mr Tsvangirai finished ahead of Mr Mugabe in first-round presidential elections in March, but handed the presidency to his rival when he pulled out of a second round, citing violence against his supporters.

Mr Mugabe's party also lost its majority in parliament in March elections for the first time since independence in 1980. -- AFP